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NEWS: Hirameki No Longer Publishing Interactive Visual Novels


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DmonHiro





PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 6:26 am Reply with quote
I'm really sorry to her that, I really enjoyed Ever 17. Hoped to see some more of those games in enhlish. Oh well......time to brush up on my japanese so I won't need english translations Very Happy
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kokuryu



Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:41 am Reply with quote
Never even heard of them. Would have liked Tea Society for a Witch.

Never mind - I just read it was heavily edited from the original - no wonder they couldnt sell anything.
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Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:19 am Reply with quote
After seeing this I decided to order Ai Yori Aoshi, Ever 17, Hourglass of Summer, and Piece of Wonder from TRSI. These titles, Animamundi and Exodus Guilty are all currently in stock and are eligible for the current 20% off promotion. I hear that Ever 17 is a very solid game, and am familiar with Ai Yori Aoshi from the anime, but know nothing about the other two. The other two interactive DVDs are out of stock, but I might hunt them down elsewhere if I enjoy the other games.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18136
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:33 am Reply with quote
Hmmm, wonder if this has anything to do with their utter lack of quality control. The one game of Exodus Guilty of theirs that I did peruse suffered from horrifically bad and consistent grammar and spelling problems as well as a thoroughly ridiculous plot.
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6864
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:38 am Reply with quote
That is sad to hear. They were pretty much the only company daring enough to release non-pornographic games of this type. I remember first buying Hourglass of Summer back in January 2006 when I drove ~70 miles in search of Scrapped Princess Vol. 6 (only to find that it'd been delayed) and decided to pick up the game on impulse. And at ACen 2007, I bought Ai yori aoshi from them at their booth, and not only did I get Tea Society of a Witch in their Buy 1 Get 1 Free deal, they threw in Phantom of Inferno just because I told them I'd bought and enjoyed other games they'd released.

Ever17 is probably the best-regarded game of the bunch, but Hourglass of Summer is very good as well; it's lengthy, complicated, and has lots of potential to make you laugh, cry, and kiss $30 goodbye. It's also got the most "fan-oriented" dialogue, retaining last-first name order and honorifics. It's also the only game of this nature I've played where the male protagonist's voice is actually dubbed.

Tea Society of a Witch I can't really recommend -- aside from the editing issues (they cut out all adult material and 3 of the 6 girls' storylines), it's not that great of a game. You select one of 3 girls at the start of every gameplay day, and if you select the same girl every time, you get her ending. If you don't, you get the generic bad ending. It can be funny and has an interesting art style, though.

And stay away from the truly awful Amusement Park -- there are only 3 decisions in that entire game, and the DVD-based password system makes you unable to save your game at any point outside of those 3 decisions. Needless to say, this is very tedious. I still need to play 3 of the 5 storylines, but the 2 I did play were nearly identical, since spoiler[your character gets afflicted with a strange disease, and while you live no matter what you do, one choice gets the girl, and the other gets you the generic bad ending.]
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OtakuNoel



Joined: 21 Dec 2007
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 10:16 am Reply with quote
I like so much game but all japanease also ERO gameY_Y
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Grico



Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 201
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 10:42 am Reply with quote
This is really sad news. They were the only company releasing Japanese dating sims that were not hentai focused. Hourglass of Summer was really a great game.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:16 am Reply with quote
Sad but can't say I'm surprised. In the only store (and a computer store at that) I know stocked a couple of their games - Phantom of Inferno and Amusement Park - the games stood there for months or years not selling until eventually being discounted or gotten rid of.

Seems even anime fans aren't into "interactive" DVDs, which people associate with pr0n. (Didn't help that the DVDs have "mature" ratings too.) Seems the dating-sim mentality just won't take hold in America.
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Unholy_Nny



Joined: 22 Jun 2005
Posts: 622
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:23 am Reply with quote
Nooooooooooooooooooo

I really enjoyed Hourglass of Summer, despite hating the horrid DVD password system. And Phantom of Inferno is full of grammatical and graphical errors, not to mention freezing up randomly at different points for each DVD player I try it in...


But Ever17 and Ai Yori Aioshi are both solid games, I should quick grab Piece of Wonder and Yo-Jin-Bo then.
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stevek504



Joined: 29 Apr 2007
Posts: 216
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:59 am Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
That is sad to hear. They were pretty much the only company daring enough to release non-pornographic games of this type.


I agree, very sad. I had high hopes for this type of media, so I purchased Ai Yori Aoshi (one of my favorite series when I first started into anime a year ago). I don't know what it was about Ai Yori Aoshi, but I could not make it through more than about twenty minutes of it. The visuals were done well enough, but it reminded me a lot of some of the "anime" that is out there that uses static pictures and dialog to tell a story. A style that I do not like. I guess I just don’t “get it”.

This format must be popular in Japan – but can it make it here in the USA? It was my first and last (for now) interactive visual novel purchase. If it is (or can be) a static picture – I would prefer if they would just make it a color comic or graphic novel. Don’t tie me to a PC to look at it.

Since you brought up pornographic. More of my opinions here! I know everyone will feel different about this.
I find the addition of pornography, or even some ecchi usually feels like it has been added for the “fans” and doesn’t add anything to help the story. I think a good example of this is the release of Love Hina Again. Or, if my memory serves me correctly, spoiler[the “love” scene between Jenny and Forest in the] movie Forest Gump. Don’t get me wrong, these are both still very high on my list and I purchased a lot of things that are Love Hina related, but both of these could have moved a bit higher on my scale if they had just behaved. I think some would agree that if Love Hina Again had come out first the whole series might not have become as popular as it did. I have not seen or played a pornographic game yet, so I cannot comment on them, but we always have Doujinshi for this type of stuff. Smile
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Roguespider



Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:34 pm Reply with quote
I must say, I am saddened by this news, not surprised, but saddened. I knew of Hirameki back when they were still using the AnimePlay brand. I actually signed up to become a tester for Phantom of Inferno (which got me a free copy). Every year they were at Otakon. They didn't usually have new stuff and I slightly questioned how much they were actually selling. It didn't seem like much and I was worried something like this would happen.

I used to talk to the main staffer who ran their dealer's booth at Otakon (sad to say, I don't think I ever got his name). I'll miss getting to talk to him and some good deals on Phantom stuff.

Sorry to see you go.

-Robert
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e-imi



Joined: 28 Jul 2007
Posts: 65
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:36 pm Reply with quote
Good bye, Hirameki, you did good. Anime cry

First Geneon, and now Hirameki.

I really hope that someone else will take Hirameki's place. Hopefully they'll be able to translate and sell one big hit. Kinda like ToHeart, but not as grand on that scale. Maybe that will get the desire for these games pumping.
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Reikon



Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 36
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 3:19 pm Reply with quote
Even though they often heavily censored their products and had horrible quality control, I'm going to miss them just because they did Ever17, which is one of my favorite games ever. Everyone should try and pick up Ever17 while they can. You won't regret it. It has a really great story.
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tasogarenootome



Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 593
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 3:48 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, this is really a let-down.

I agree, I was disappointed at the poor quality control in the games, and when I first started playing VNs I wondered why they weren't translating all these "big" titles I kept hearing about online (which turned out to be because of ridiculous licensing costs), but I still ended playing Ever17 and LOVED it! Even after playing other VNs, that is still hands-down the best VN I have ever played. I highly reccommend it.

I hope someone will pick up where Hirameki left off. Even better would be if it were an anime/manga distributor who already had translators and editors on-board, as well as the reputation...
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DmonHiro





PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:43 pm Reply with quote
Wait....does that mean Ever17 mas censored as well? Witch games are you saying were censored?
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